Caroline C Escoubas, Leah C Dorman, Phi T Nguyen, Christian Lagares-Linares, Haruna Nakajo, Sarah R Anderson, Jerika J Barron, Sarah D Wade, Beatriz Cuevas, Ilia D Vainchtein, Nicholas J Silva, Ricardo Guajardo, Yinghong Xiao, Peter V Lidsky, Ellen Y Wang, Brianna M Rivera, Sunrae E Taloma, Dong Kyu Kim, Elizaveta Kaminskaya, Hiromi Nakao-Inoue, Bjoern Schwer, Thomas D Arnold, Ari B Molofsky, Carlo Condello, Raul Andino, Tomasz J Nowakowski, Anna V Molofsky
Microglia are brain-resident macrophages that shape neural circuit development and are implicated in neurodevelopmental diseases. Multiple microglial transcriptional states have been defined, but their functional significance is unclear. Here, we identify a type I interferon (IFN-I)-responsive microglial state in the developing somatosensory cortex (postnatal day 5) that is actively engulfing whole neurons. This population expands during cortical remodeling induced by partial whisker deprivation. Global or microglial-specific loss of the IFN-I receptor resulted in microglia with phagolysosomal dysfunction and an accumulation of neurons with nuclear DNA damage...
March 8, 2024: Cell